The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-05-18

Ihe large NUMBER OF indictments
against liquor sellers found by the grand
jury at ghe present term of court speaks
of an awakened public sentiment against
liquor selling, and increased efficiency
on the part of public officials in the en-
forcement of the law. We think the
opponents of prohibitory laws, who de-
clare that public sentiment has weakened
in regard to the enforcement of the laws
and the promotion of temperance forget
with what great difficulty indictments
were obtained against liquor sellers when
the first prohibitory law was enacted, and
deceive themselves in regard to the pro-
gress of public opinion upon this matter.
In the early days of prohibition very
few liquor indictments were found by
grand iuries. County attorneys would
not give the law faithful support. In
many cases they instructed grand juries
decidedly against it. Sheriffs and NUM-
cipal officers were opposed to enforce
ment, OF so slow to act for fear of offending
the liquor selling interest that their efforts
were of no avail. But as time has gone
on, juries, officers, and public have been
passing through an educational process,
so that officers now enforce the law i'm
partially and faithfully as they do any
other law, grand juries will indict ac-
cording to the evidence of guilt pre-
sented, and the public will not only sus-
tain officers in doing their duty, but de-
mand its faithful performance. There
has been long step forward in Maine in
regard to the enforcement of the prohib-
itory liquor laws during the last thirty
years. Whatever liquor dealers may say to
the CONTRARY, the consumption of intoxi-
eating liquors in Maine has vastly de-
creased during that time, and public
opinion has as certainly gone forward in
favor of measures for the suppression of
the liquor traffic. The prohibitory prin
ciple is engrafted upon the constitution
of the State by the will and act of the
people, there to remain as long as the
State stands. The large list of indict-
ments found IN Kennebec County at the
present term is significant of the peoples
wishes and demands for the strict en-
forcement of the laws for the suppression
of drinking shops, and vigorous work
against those who are engaged in the il
legal traffic. The friends of temperance
are going shoulder to shoulder against the
traffic, which is evil and nothing but evil,
and they will drive it into closer quarters
than it has ever yet occupied. We trust
the law will be executed with q firm and
impartial hand, so that no guilty man
may be allowed to escape. Let the tenn
perance laws be enforced as faithfully as
other laws are. If men will transgress
the laws against dram-selling, of which
they cannot be ignorant, let them suffer
the penalty. They have nobody to blame
but themselves for whatever punishment
may be meted out to them, for they knew
from the commencement that their bust
ness was illegal and that they were liable
to prosecution and punishment. .-Augus-
ia (Ae.) Journal.
"The Foe OF Good Government.
The saloon has few frieads-none to
be proud of. There is no body, whose
presence is not menace to the commu-
nifty, who would not like to see the saloon
60, and 60 to stay. It has been
law-breaker. 1t has been place that has
thrived either on the weakness or the vice
of humanity. 1t has not given value re-
ceived. 1t has been the rendezvous of
the criminal, the friend of no one but
the poor-house and the prison. If all
this was not enough to condemn it and
to secure sentence of Punishment, then
let it be remembered that the saloon has
not the decency of conscious indecency.
1t thrusts itself forward, and, a law
breaker itself, seeks to- dictate legisla-
tion. The foe of good government, it
brought its stencil and its ill-gotten pelf
into politics, and actually commanded
all parties to do obedience to it. It
forced the issue. In its foolhardiness it
left the choice between its supremacy or
extinction. If it had possessed the mod
esty even of half common sense, it might
have fingered in Iowa for some years yet.
1t was as impudent as vile, and now it
has got it in the neck, and good enough
for it. Even its victims are glad to hear
the door of the saloon go shut with
vigorous bang. Those, too, who served
it in fear, now that there is nothing to
fear, laugh at its calamity. The friends
of the saloon-who are they, anyhow3-
SioAr City (Ia.) Journal
England's Crime.
The following is an extract from an
address recently delivered by Archdcacon
Farrar in Princes Hall, London:
7 -;o1- ofEo